By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
One six-run inning was costly.
Two of those? Too much.
The Burlington Bees’ 15-5 loss to the O’Fallon Hoots in Monday’s Prospect League game at Community Field was a lesson in frustration for the home team.
Bees’ pitchers gave up 14 walks and 13 hits, leading to a parade of Hoots on the bases.
O’Fallon’s six-run second inning set an early tone. The six-run fourth proved fatal.
“One is bad enough,” Bees manager Owen Oreskovich said. “The second one…”
The Bees (7-14) seemed to have weathered the first outburst. They were within 6-5 before the Hoots knocked out Burlington starter Aiden McGee.
McGee got out of the first inning by striking out the last two hitters, then O’Fallon had a seven-hit second to take a 6-2 lead. McGee responded with a scoreless third and Oreskovich was hoping he had settled in for a longer outing.
Instead, McGee loaded the bases with nobody out, ending his night. O’Fallon’s Chase Beattie then cleared the bases with a double into right-center field off reliever Adrian Nery. The Hoots (12-9) added three more runs off Nery in the inning, and it was a 12-5 lead.
“I thought (McGee) was going to be able to start that fourth inning off right, and it wasn’t the case,” Oreskovich said. “It’s tough to bring in a kid with bases loaded, nobody out, and ask him to get out of that with no damage. We just had to do a better job.”
O’Fallon added three more runs in the sixth inning with two outs. Reliever Nick Tampa hit Ethan Rossow with a pitch, then walked the next three hitters to bring in a run. John Stallcup’s two-run single closed the scoring for the game.
“We had a couple of innings tonight where we get two outs right away, and then there’s two or three walks and then a hit,” Oreskovich said. “That can’t happen. You’ve got to bear down, make a pitch. Focus on that pitch, and make it.”
The Bees got an early lead, getting two in the bottom of the first inning on Mason Schwalbach’s home run to right field. They added a run in the third when Jaden Hackbarth singled in Caleb Wulf, then got two more in the third when Kooper Schulte drove in a run, then scored on a wild pitch.
Drew Politte (4-2) was the winning pitcher.
ON DECK: The Bees play host to the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes in a 6:30 p.m. game Tuesday. Jeremy Fox (0-2, 11.57 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for Burlington.
NOTES: Schwalbach is now third in the league in home runs with five. … Burlington’s Coy Sarsfield extended his hitting streak to four games with a first-inning single. The outfielder from Iowa is hitting .400 in the last four games.
Photo: Mason Schwalbach (21) is greeted at home plate by teammates Jaden Hackbarth and Keanu Spenser after his first-inning home run. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
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